March 2020 Shmup Club - Gaiares

[FauxMacho]

Thanks for the tips y'all. I've gotten more comfortable with the dpad, and daily attempts has helped with memorization and strategy. I got halfway through stage 4 (the X-shaped setpiece with the space worm was my end).

MetalFRO, I haven't caught your recent streams but when I want the T-Braster I'll move to the right side of the screen because I can fire off the TOZ faster and get the 6x I need.

PB currently at 486,848.

[MetalFRO]

That's pretty good! The X segment took me a little bit to get through. One thing that's not apparent in that space is that there's some leeway with the rocks. You can duck slightly into them, to avoid the silver ball projectiles the snake fires. You have to be careful not to go into them completely, but that should help you get through it. And yes, regarding the T-Braster, there are definitely a couple stages where you have to quickly run to the right side of the screen to get the 6 "misfires" in, so you can then TOZ the first enemy and get it. A couple places, like stage 4, or stage 6 especially, it's very difficult to pull off successfully.

As for me, I feel like I've regressed, somewhat. I haven't been able to make any progress in finishing the game, because of the difficulty in obtaining the T-Braster in stage 6, and subsequently losing most of my lives at that spot right at the beginning without a decent weapon. Most of the play-throughs I've watched largely stick with the wide laser, or switch to the thinner laser at some point (stage 5 midboss, for example). However, now I'm having trouble even getting that far with those weapons. I'm a little concerned that I won't be able to get a clear by the end of the month, which I was really hoping to achieve.

What about anyone else - anyone making progress, or have scores to share?

[FauxMacho]

There's lots of leeway with the rocks, but the large bullets always get a corner of my ship. I'm good at dodging when in the upper and lower left branches, but on the right side, the game's general limit on how far the ship can go to the edge gets me making errors. I might succeed with practice, but I think my best chance to clear the section is getting through in my first attempt when I still have a shield.

Here's the shield power ups I know of. Know of any more in the first half of the game?
Stage 1: after mid boss
Stage 2: after the 2 ground-to-air lasers
Stage 2: upper tunnel on the second mountain
Stage 3: top of the screen a little ways in once the ship gets to the columns section, usually right when finishing the 2nd giant charging sprite
Stage 3 or 4?: During / after the first small snake fight in the city

I don't have a second controller so I don't think I can access stage select, but maybe I'll go back to the emulator for practice.

[Gamer707b]

I have taken a week off from it, but looking forward to getting back to it tomorrow. Not thinking of a 1cc but maybe a 2 or 3cc. I remember playing it originally  and 1ccing it. So , now Im happy to just completing it.

[MetalFRO]

@FauxMacho - I think you covered all the shield power ups in the 1st half of the game! In stage 5, I'm not aware of any - it's a pretty linear stage, and I don't recall seeing one anywhere during that stretch. I didn't think there was one in stage 6, either, but after the initial rush of the large, laser-blasting enemies, try to stay on the upper path. Somewhere around, or past, the half-way point in the stage, there will be a shield power up available. Stage 7 is a boss rush, and a shield power up will be available prior to the encounter with the stage 4 boss. That's the last one in the game, as you'll have to survive the bosses from stages 4-6, and the Stage 7 final boss, and then you're on to the final boss encounter.

@Gamer707b - Stage 6 starts out so cheap, the uphill climb to the 1CC has been very real!

Speaking of which, I came REALLY close to a 1CC last night on stream. I reached the stage 7 end boss on a single credit, and then it's RNG had other plans, and I ended up burning through all my lives at that spot. I did managed to break 1 million points, though, and have my new PB by a pretty good margin!

[SaturdayDevelopment]

I'm not getting past level 2 on a single credit, so I haven't had any scores worth reporting, but I'll try to drop one in over the weekend.  I'm going to try the T-Braster trick, maybe some extra firepower will help.

[MetalFRO]

I'm not getting past level 2 on a single credit, so I haven't had any scores worth reporting, but I'll try to drop one in over the weekend.  I'm going to try the T-Braster trick, maybe some extra firepower will help.

It does! One word of warning, though - you'll have to redo it each new stage, and once you get a little further in, it gets harder to have enough time to activate it before the enemies pose a threat.

[Gamer707b]

 Ok guys. Did my last playthrough today. Got to level 5 on 1 credit. Then used another credit to pass it and get to level 6. After 2 credits I gave up. In all honesty , I just didn't have the desire to keep pushing. Being that I cleared the game a while ago. Great game though. Certainly one of my favorites of this generation. maybe top 3. look forward to doing the shmup of the month game next time for something I have yet cleared. Too bad Thunder force 4 and Rtype has already been done. These are 2 games I have yet to clear.

[MetalFRO]

What was your final score? Anyone else have final scores to post? I forgot to post mine last night, but it was from my final run of the month, which I streamed. I did get my PB, but I didn't get the 1CC, unfortunately. But I'm close enough that I think I might push ahead and still try and nab that 1CC before we record the podcast, because I'd really like to have that one on my list.

[MetalFRO]

We'll be recording the podcast episode for Gaiares soon, so does anyone have any final thoughts on the game to share, so we can include them in the episode?